I recently needed an extra 150 miles at BA to add to the miles transfered from BMI to make a useful number and had a meeting coming up where a hotel stay would accomplish that. Hilton Honors seemed to be the easiest option to do that, but I was sadly mistaken. Hilton has ways to cheat members out of their miles and points, and they did so.
The Hilton Honors websites states ''When you stay at a hotel or resort within the Hilton worldwide portfolio, you earn ten base points for every US dollar spent . . .'' That is pretty broad, and it goes on to give only one exception, which is less base points for certain brands within the chain'' Miles are based on points earned.
When I checked my account, I saw it showed 0 points for the stay, and also no miles came through on BA. I called Hilton Honors to check on that and they claimed that only stays booked through their website counted for points or miles, and this stay was booked through booking.com. Nothing on their website states such a condition and I told them that. They claimed it was in their terms and conditions, but there was no link that I could find on their website that allowed members to find any terms and conditions. There certainly was no link on the page about how to earn miles which is where it should have been if they were going to add a sneaky and underhanded condition like that. Indeed having T&C that blatantly contradict information provided in a more visible format would be prima facie violation of consumer protection law as an unfair and deceptive business practice. There is absolutely nothing on their webpage about earning miles that says you have to book through their website to earn the points or miles.
I also am well aware that stays that my employer booked through their travel department and the travel agency it uses DO count for both miles and points, and I told them that. Their claim about booking through 3rd parties is thus absolute horsehockey. It is just the third parties that they choose to honor or not.
After this fraud by Hilton, I will avoid their brands in my future travel, both leisure and business. They did give me the points as a concession, but it was the miles that were important and they absolutely refused to give them to me. I spoke to a supervisor and that did not do any good.
The Hilton Honors websites states ''When you stay at a hotel or resort within the Hilton worldwide portfolio, you earn ten base points for every US dollar spent . . .'' That is pretty broad, and it goes on to give only one exception, which is less base points for certain brands within the chain'' Miles are based on points earned.
When I checked my account, I saw it showed 0 points for the stay, and also no miles came through on BA. I called Hilton Honors to check on that and they claimed that only stays booked through their website counted for points or miles, and this stay was booked through booking.com. Nothing on their website states such a condition and I told them that. They claimed it was in their terms and conditions, but there was no link that I could find on their website that allowed members to find any terms and conditions. There certainly was no link on the page about how to earn miles which is where it should have been if they were going to add a sneaky and underhanded condition like that. Indeed having T&C that blatantly contradict information provided in a more visible format would be prima facie violation of consumer protection law as an unfair and deceptive business practice. There is absolutely nothing on their webpage about earning miles that says you have to book through their website to earn the points or miles.
I also am well aware that stays that my employer booked through their travel department and the travel agency it uses DO count for both miles and points, and I told them that. Their claim about booking through 3rd parties is thus absolute horsehockey. It is just the third parties that they choose to honor or not.
After this fraud by Hilton, I will avoid their brands in my future travel, both leisure and business. They did give me the points as a concession, but it was the miles that were important and they absolutely refused to give them to me. I spoke to a supervisor and that did not do any good.
Comment